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The Bluhm Legal Clinic is hiring eligible 1L and 2L Northwestern Law students for the summer federal work-study program. The Federal Work-Study Program (FWS) was established by Congress to help students find employment to meet educational costs while providing work experience related to academic majors and interests. The work done by the Clinic often contributes to reform initiatives arising from representation of individuals and groups.

Interviews for the positions in the Clinic will take place during the month of February. Below is additional information about this Clinic opportunity:

Application packet:
Northwestern Law 1L and 2L students must submit a cover letter (addressed to the professor), resume, unofficial transcript, a writing sample, and your NU student identification number (to verify your eligibility) during the application period.  Students who are applying for FWS must complete both the current year's FAFSA and the upcoming year's FAFSA prior to submitting the application packet to the Clinic. 

Pay:
Work Study positions are full-time at 37.5 hours a week and receive $16/hour. Overtime is prohibited under the FWS program.

Duration:
The Clinic Work Study program typically runs for 12 weeks, starting the third week of May and concluding the beginning of August.

Eligibility and Financial Aid:
Work-study opportunities are open to Northwestern Law students who have finished their first year and are currently receiving or eligible to receive a federal loan.  If you are not eligible to apply for a federal loan, you are not eligible for this opportunity.

Eligibility to participate in FWS will be based on the Chicago Office of Financial Aid's review of the current year's FAFSA and the upcoming year's FAFSA.  Federal regulations assume that a portion of awarded work-study funding will be used towards educational expenses in the following academic year.  Receiving work-study funding may impact the amount of loan funding that the Chicago Office of Financial Aid can offer eligible students in the upcoming academic year.  Please contact the Financial Aid office at (312) 503-8722 or financial-aid-chicago@northwestern.edu for additional information.

 

2023 Summer Federal Work-Study Opportunities in the Bluhm Legal Clinic


Below is a list of the summer work-study opportunities in the Clinic. Current Northwestern Law students may apply to a maximum of three. If you apply to more than one, you must rank the supervising attorneys in your order of preference. 

Although we cannot guarantee an interview with each of your choices, we will do our best to accommodate all candidates with more than one interviewing opportunity. Your application packet should be e-mailed before 5pm on Friday, February 10, 2023 to the Legal Practice Administrator, Melissa Montemayor.

Center on Negotiation and Mediation

  • Daniel Gandert - The first project that the student would look at is fairness issues relating to the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s new Anti-Doping Division.  This division’s rules prevent athletes from being able to appeal cases heard by three arbitrators, while allowing the World Anti-Doping Agency (“WADA”) to appeal these cases for a de novo hearing when it is not happy with the outcome.

    The second project that the student would help with is researching how the Court of Arbitration for Sport case Puerta remains valid case law even under the current World Anti-Doping Code.  This case sets the precedent for allowing athletes to receive penalties less than what is prescribed by the Code when cases where penalties under the Code would bring about a disproportionate outcome, as applied to the athlete.  

    The student would also work on creating a new Model IOC negotiation simulation for the Negotiation class.  This negotiation would be a multi-party, coalition negotiation based upon the way that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) functions.

    The student would also help with an article entitled The Spectrum of Questionable Behavior in Sports, which creates a spectrum of questionable behaviors ranging from intentional fouls to match fixing.

    Other projects relating to the general subject of sports dispute resolution may come up as well, but these will be the primary projects, such as the final stages for an article entitled What is Sports Dispute Resolution.

Children and Family Justice Center

  • Uzoamaka Nzelibe - The summer student will assist in the representation of immigration clients before the Chicago immigration court or the Department of Homeland Security.  Duties will include interviewing clients and witnesses, researching legal issues, conducting factual investigations, drafting pleadings and motions, preparing legal briefs, and representing clients at hearings in immigration court or before DHS.  Please note that second-year law students may represent clients in immigration court. 

Community Justice and Civil Rights Clinic

  • Sheila Bedi - The Community Justice and Civil Rights Clinic works within social justice movements to execute legal and policy strategies aimed at redressing some of the most pressing, urgent issues of our time—namely over-policing and mass imprisonment. Work-study students will have the opportunity to work on litigation, engage in community based fact discovery about police violence, and conduct legal and policy research driven by the needs of Chicago’s Black and Brown communities.

Investor Protector Clinic and Complex Civil Litigation

  • Sam Tenenbaum - Students will be given the opportunity to learn the practical aspects of complex civil litigation. Complex civil litigation will cover the range of lawyering skills, including client relations, drafting of pleadings, the discovery process, depositions, arguing motions in court, bench and jury trials as well as appeals. In addition, students will be exposed to the economic considerations that are involved in the litigation process and will become involved in marketing, fee negotiation and budgeting, as well as related ethical concerns. Students will work on a range of cases, such as civil rights litigation, business disputes, real estate, insurance, product liability, personal injury, shareholder rights litigation and securities litigation.  Students in this course will also work in the Investor Protection Center, which provides representation to investors with limited income and have disputes with stockbrokers, investment advisors, or securities firms. Students will be given the opportunity to learn the practical aspects of securities mediation and arbitration. Students will be responsible for interviewing and counseling clients, explaining the arbitration and mediation process, investigation and selecting potential arbitrators, conducting discovery, negotiating settlements, and participating in arbitration trials and mediations. Finally, students will be exposed to the economic considerations that are involved in securities arbitration. 

Appellate Advocacy Center

  • Xiao Wang - The Appellate Advocacy Center provides unparalleled service to clients appealing their cases in federal appellate courts or the United States Supreme Court.  The student will work closely with a PILI Fellow to assist Center efforts in a number of different areas.  These include:
    • Reviewing and cataloging the Center’s prior casework, to help with marketing and communication efforts for the Center.
    • Conducting legal research and summarizing critical legal issues in the Center’s cases.
    • Monitoring case dockets and opinions from federal appellate courts.
    • Outreach to court officials to discuss potential collaborations and partnerships.

    Given the above responsibilities, strong legal research skills and a familiarity with PACER or Bloomberg is highly recommended. 

Environmental Advocacy Center

  • Rob Weinstock - The Environmental Advocacy Center takes a capacious view of what counts as “environmental law,” and employs a flexible approach to advocacy, always seeking to identify the right strategy for the situation.  Environmental attorneys can be called on to deploy nearly every tool in the legal toolbox – from litigation, to counseling and dealmaking, from crafting common law claims to disentangling byzantine statutory and regulatory requirements – and must be comfortable in every type of forum – be it courts, agencies, legislatures or the public forum.  The EAC designs its docket to train students to be just the sort of dynamic and multifaceted environmental lawyer who can succeed in any setting.  Currently, the EAC is confronting cutting edge issues in energy law, enforcing complex environmental regulations, and advancing novel approaches at the intersection of civil rights and environmental law, among other projects. 

    The EAC is a great fit not only for students focused on environmental law, but for students interested in social justice lawyering, renewable energy, complex regulatory litigation or counseling practices, or working at the intersection of science and law.  Summer students will be the junior attorneys on active complex litigation matters in both traditional environmental law and public utility proceedings and will work directly with our community organization clients to confront dynamic environmental justice problems and build the foundation for long-term policy solutions.

Revised 2/3/2023